records in Essex have been secured since 1990, and none of them at this end of the
county.
Then on 21st August there came a phonecall from Brian Reeves, whose next-door
neighbour in Coombe Drive had happened upon a substantial, spiked caterpillar on his
Scots Pine. Brian, rightly, identified it as the larva of the Pine Hawk Hyloicus pinastri,
a species given by Waring and Townsend as "Local", and described by Brian Goodey as
a scarce resident in Essex. The distribution map given in the latter book gives no reference
for the southern end of the county. There is a considerable amount of planted Scots Pine
on Langdon Hills, not least in the so-called Creepy Copse in Coombe Wood, part of the
Langdon Hills country park, so that it is quite possible that the moth has been breeding
in the area for a considerable period of time, although escaping attention.
These records augment the list of resident hawkmoth species recorded for the Langdon
ridge in recent years. Privet, Poplar, Eyed, Lime and Large Elephant hawks occur fairly
regularly, while recent years have seen considerable numbers of hummingbird hawks,
with egglaying on Lady's Bedstraw on the banks of Nethermayne witnessed three years
ago.
Rose Chafer Cetonia aurata survey
Maria Fremlin 25 Ireton Road, Colchester C03 3AT
Currently Cetonia aurata seems to be very abundant in a certain area of Colchester,
where their larvae can often be found in great numbers is compost heaps in gardens and
allotments (see plate 2 right).
The imagos on warm sunny days feed on flowers, for example, rhubarb, Pyracantha,
globe artichoke, cardoon, and Eryngium, but I've seen them very rarely on roses. They
have their preferences, Compositae and Umbelliferae flowers seem particularly attractive
to them. The photo shown is of an adult on Eryngium sp. (see plate 2 left).
Therefore it would be interesting to know a bit more about its present range not only in
Colchester but in the county as well, or the country for that matter. We need records of
both their larvae and of their imagos, please. Records can be submitted via the Essex
Field Club website and more information and links can be found at http://
maria.fremlin.org/cetonia_aurata/
10
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 53, May 2007